This post is from June 5. (I just realized that the internet must have not had a good connection and never posted.)
I am completely in awe as I reflect on all of the events
from today.
This morning we went to visit the sites where each group will
collect the data for our research projects. First we stopped at a public
preschool with little ninos ages 3-5. Of course I just wanted to play with the
kids and kiss their dirty little checks, but we were only there for a short
visit to observe the site and sadly could not interact with the kids. I wish I
could have taken pictures because I am pretty sure these were the cutest kids I
have ever seen. Oh wait, I think every little one I see is the cutest. I did
get to talk to one little boy when his class was in line for the restroom. All
of the kids waiting were waving at the few of us standing nearby so I slipped a
little closer and said Hola! Then asked how old he was in Spanish. I wish I had
gotten a picture of the expression on his face. He was so shocked that I spoke
to him in Spanish! It was if I was a talking dog. He was 4 and absolutely
adorable. I shook his little hand and he shared some snot with me. Yes snot. He
had just wiped his nose haha!
From that school we traveled to a shanty town on the outskirts of Lima called Manchay. This was my first time to leave the first world, upper-class part of Lima.
Green LaMolina. Notice the nice cars and paved streets.
As we drove further from La Molina we drove from paradise into the dessert. The green faded to brown and the houses became smaller and smaller. The pedestrians clothing evolved from clean, fresh pressed Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren to dusty, patched pants and stained shirts. My professor, Dr. Mary, explained to me that in the 1980’s people began moving to Lima from the mountains because of terrorist activity. Those people could not afford to live in Lima so they settled on what looks like giant piles of dust (foot hills of the Andes) right outside of the city. Most of their houses were constructed in a day or two. Later electricity was brought in and water is brought in each week by trucks. Dr. Mary said that the water is paid for by the liter and is very expensive so families buy very little and store the water in what looks like large trash bins. They use water for days and even weeks and by the time they purchase new water the water they have been using is almost mud.
Our first stop in Manchay was a government funded community
center. It was just a large open air structure. It is used mostly for community
meetings. We have invited mothers to meet us there with their babies Friday
morning and we will assess their child’s nutrition status and offer them a
drink. For our study we will offer sugar to add to their child’s drink and
observe the amount of sugar added. We will then look to see if there is a
relationship between the child’s nutrition status (underweight, normal,
overweight) and the amount of sugar their mother added to the drink. I am
excited to weigh and measure the babies. Ok maybe I am just excited to hold
them and play with them :)
From the community center we walked right down the road to a
non-government funded children’s center. Looking at the building from the
outside and its surroundings you would never know what lies inside. It is like
an oasis in the middle of the dessert. The building is a multilevel structure
with large windows, flowers planted in pots, vines growing over the fully
equipped play grounds (nicer than those I’ve seen in the US) to provide relief
from the sun, and inside there is a computer lab stocked with brand new
computers, a library, art room, geography room, theater room, learning kitchen.
Everything a teacher and student could dream of is in this center. The center
is open from 8am-8pm each day and children age 6 months to 18 years are
welcome. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with the couple who
manages the foundation HELP Peru (Humanitarian and Eco-Logical Projects) that
supports the center. I later found out that this couple and their other members
of their family provide all the funding for the foundation. The center is based on the philosophy of
Montessori who believed “a child’s work is to create the person she/he will
become” and “freedom with responsibility.” This was a beautiful center and I
feel honored to have met Mr. and Mrs. Rista (from Milan and Venezuela,
respectively). It was a very interesting visit. Much different from the faith
based children’s centers I have visited in Guatemala and Nicaragua. I look
forward to spending Monday morning there to learn more.
This is the HELP center from then outside. You would never know looking at this building what's inside.
View from the HELP Center
As we were leaving Manchay I noticed a water tower that had “Water
is life” painted on the side. Immediately Jesus’s words from John 4 when Jesus
spoke to the woman at the well popped into my mind. John 4:13 “Jesus answered,
‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the
water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in
him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” This passage stayed on my
mind throughout the day.
When we left the brown returned to our little research
center nestled in the green city I went to lunch with three of my new Peruvian
friends Milagros, Katya, and Isabel. The four of us walked across the street to
the University of Agriculture which is, as the name suggest, a university for
student to pursue careers in agriculture. It looks just like a US college
campus with students lounging under trees talking and reading and others
hanging out at the food court. We had lunch at the outdoor food court. I had
Sopa de Pescado, which turned out to be the first food here I didn’t like. When
I heard “fish soup” I envisioned seafood gumbo for some crazy reason. Of course
it tasted nothing like gumbo. In fact it tasted the way days-old dead fish
smell. NOT YUMMY! The girls enjoyed watching my reaction as I ate the soup and
tried to lie that it was good. They knew I hated it.
Back to school we went to work on our projects. After class
some of us decided to walk back to the hotel instead of take the bus as we
usually do. This was a marvelous idea! It only took 30 minutes and the air was
so nice!
After eating leftover “Chifa” (Chinese from last night), I
skyped Mom and Dad! It was great to see their faces and share with them some of
the day.
Just half an hour ago I was sitting where I am now and the
passage form John 4 was still on my mind so I pulled out my Bible. As I was
reading right here on the couch in the lobby, a man walked by and asked what I
was reading. I told him the passage and why I had chosen that one. He shared
with me that he is an Engineer from Canada here with other engineers and
business people building homes and planting gardens in Manchay (the
dessert/dust bowl I visited earlier today). The foundation he works with is a
faith-based organization that works in Peru and Bolivia. They do much more than
build homes and gardens, such as teach women to sew in order to earn a
seamstress certification and teach young men career building skills, but he
said the most important work they do is share the Word of God. God’s love is
the only sustaining solution to the poverty and brokenness of this world. Food,
water, and even education will only go so far without the knowledge of God’s
love and the hope of spending eternal life with Christ. Individuals may take
advantage of these temporary solutions we offer, but if we fail to offer God’s
message of love they may never learn to help others in need which will do
nothing to improve the gap between the upper and lower class, rich and poor,
first world and third. I am grateful that God used Mr. Ed tonight to remind me
that JESUS IS LIFE.
Thank you Milagros for our Chifles (banana chips)!!
More pictures from Manchay:
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